M. Ward Quotes

I'm into emulation, not imitation.

I never wanted the temptation to imitate or emulate something that had been done beforehand.

There is no intellectual or emotional substitute for the authentic, the original, the unique masterpiece.

I don't think anybody came into the movie business to be unoriginal and plagiarising and not having an original idea in their brain.

We call ourselves creators and we just copy.

To copy others is necessary, but to copy oneself is pathetic.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

Nature is commonplace. Imitation is more interesting.

A mere copier of nature can never produce anything great.

What is originality? Undetected plagiarism.

You don't want to just do 'me too' companies that are copying what others are doing.

What is nice about country music today is that most artists are not trying to do something everybody else is doing. They really are trying to develop their own uniqueness.

When you put something out there into the world, there's all these words you don't want to hear, that you hope people don't say. I don't like anything that starts with 're' - like retro, reinvent, recreate - I hate that. It's always like living in the past - copying, emulating.

The 'copy, paste' mentality of some investors and entrepreneurs - be careful of that. Do something that is unique to you, not because someone else's journey is mirroring it.

Don't do anyone else's version of a hit song - it's gonna sound terrible. You just have to do what you do well and crank it up to 11.

It's better if a singer disconnects from the original and brings something new to the version.

I came out with sounds that didn't sound like the usual hip-hop beat. I took that chance because no one would identify with me if I sound like somebody who's already out.

I've always been a good imitator. I love music. But I'm just not that original.

You can’t learn your craft by copying me or anyone else. I hope what I do can do is in some way inspire others but I would be appalled if I thought my work was being studied as ‘the right way to do the job’. My way is just one of an infinite number of ways to do the job.

Originality is only variation.

What the world calls originality is only an unaccustomed method of tickling it.

As long as there's something original going on, that's all that matters.

No one is original. Everyone is derivative.

Imitation always stinks. When I take photos, I don't go back. I don't look at the past. I'm always original.

If someone asks me what inspires me, I always say, "That which is missing," because I don't want to copy everything that's already happening. I feel like when you copy, you blend in, and when you blend in, you get lost.